Third First Breaths
by TheElephantInThePrideParade
Summary: Each Sailor Scout's first moments after they return to Earth from the Galaxy Cauldron at the end of Sailor Stars. What is it like to be coping with battle, death, and rebirth while at the same time facing the mundane problems of ordinary human life. One Chapter per scout, updated daily. And stay tuned for longer stories I'm in the process of completing.
1. Saturn

I don't Own Sailor Moon and never will. I am not worthy of its greatness. I would, however, like to take the characters out and dust them off.

Saturn

Hotaru Tomoe wakes up on the floor of a nursery, back hunched up against a crib that fit her just fine a year ago. It doesn't look familiar here. Is Pluto dead? Is Uranus? Neptune? Where is Chibiusa? She stumbles to her feet in the dark room. They're all alive, she tries to convince herself. She can feel it. She struggles though to believe without proof.

As her mind wakes up she draws up an idea of where she is. None of the baby clothes in the dresser fit her so she grabs a sheet from the crib to wrap up in. It barely brushes her knees. She shivers. It feels like winter. But she and Setsuna had left only at the end of summer?

Hotaru pads down an unfamiliar hallway to a room where the door's ajar. There's her father. She sighs relieved. Whatever magic Moon cast on the Cauldron has returned her home. She walks up to him, unsure if she should wake him. Her heart jumps when see notices the empty glass and the pill bottle knocked over on the floor. But when she picks it up it's mostly full. Sleeping pills.

She still watches Souichi Tomoe sleep for long minutes before finally trying to wake him. "Daddy?" she pushes on his shoulder, but he barely stirs. He's knocked out cold. She sets the pill bottle right on the bedside table and catches sight of the time on the clock. 3:17. Slowly, she walks out into the hall, searching until she finds the kitchen and the phone on the wall. With a shaky hand she lifts it to her year and dials one of two numbers she's learned by heart. She waits, hoping against hope as it rings once, twice,

"Hello." The raspy voice on the other end makes her heart soar.

"Mama Suna!" she cries, relieved.

"Hotaru!" Mama Suna gasps. She sounds upset. "Oh goodness. You're all right. We're all right. I can't believe…"

"I woke up at Dad's," Hotaru says. "Mama could you maybe…bring some of my clothes over."

Setsuna laughs, but it sounds watery. Hotaru frowns. "Of course Little One."

She jumps when, before she's even said goodbye, a door shimmers into existence by her kitchen sink and Sailor Pluto steps out with her Garnet Rod and her backpack.

"You're here!" Hotaru cheers as she shoves the phone back onto the wall and launches herself at Pluto. She notices the door and her Mama's uniform fade away as she sinks to her knees, leaving her hugging Hotaru in a pair of lavender pyjamas. The Garnet Rod and backpack are discarded on the floor as Setsuna crushes Hotaru close.

"Little One," Mama Setsuna chokes out. Hotaru feels hot tears drip into her hair. She hugs Mama Suna a little tighter. "We're all right." She gasps.

"It's okay, Mama." Hotaru reassures her. She worries about what could be troubling Mama Suna, but holds her as her tears slow and continues too (well after her knees begin to ache on the kitchen tiles) until the first hints of dawn creep in through the window. Perhaps Mama Suna has been afraid too


	2. Pluto

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, otherwise Pluto would have crossover Episodes with Doctor Who because who says Plutonians can't actually be from Gallifrey. 

AN: Enjoy Chapter 2. Pluto was one of my favorite to write.

Setsuna Meiou wakes up in her bedroom alone, as soon as her body is done materializing. It is 00:00 on December 23 – The Winter Solstice this year. She brushes over the exact time and space coordinates and holds a hand to her heart. It always beats differently outside the time vortex. Right now it pounds loudly in her chest. She sits up.

It is 4 months, 3 days, 15 hours, and 55.4 minutes since she died, since her star seed was dropped into the Galaxy Cauldron. She hears breathing from the room to the left of hers, but nothing from the room to her right. So Michiru and Haruka are here…and Hotaru is gone.

Of course not, Setsuna chastises herself. Hotaru will be with her father…where she belongs, because she's not yours Pluto!

The weight of lonely reality drags at her chest, and she suddenly feels the absence of the promise ring on her finger – the one Haruka had bought the three of them when they set about raising Hotaru. Hotaru is not really her child. And no matter how they try to include her Michiru and Haruka belong to each other. None of them need her now.

Her mission is over. She doesn't know why she's awoken here instead of the time vortex. It makes it more painful. Every one of her senses, the ones that inform her of the exact date, time, planet, coordinate of space that she is in remind her that she'll be called back eventually, more eons guarding that stupid door. She lets herself sob into the dark room, arm clutching tight to her ribs like it might hold her together. She feels the path to the Crystal Millennium paved out in the time stream – stable, as it should be. So she is done here then. She doesn't know when she'll leave, but surely soon she'll have to soon.

This is an interlude, she reminds herself as she sobs. I always knew that.

She cries in fits and starts for 3 hours and 19 minutes before her phone startles her. It rings from the bedside table where it's been plugged in to charge for four months. She stares puzzled at the unfamiliar number before answering.

"Hello."

"Mama Suna!" her baby cries. Her heart hurts. Hotaru has never known how much it means that even with her memories and battles at her back, she still calls her Mama. And it's just her, she reminds herself. She still calls Ruka Papa sometimes and Michiru is Mama whenever Hotaru wants something, but Setsuna is always Mama. No matter what.

"Hotaru! Oh goodness. You're all right. We're all right. I can't believe…" that you'd call me and not your father, that I'm still here, that you still call me that…

"I woke up at Dad's," Hotaru explains. "Mama could you maybe…bring some of my clothes over."

Setsuna laughs as she cries, swinging her legs out of bed. "Of course, Little One. She throws away the phone on the bed and rushes to her closet, grabbing a pair of purple pyjamas and buttoning the shirt as she runs from her room to the empty one next door. She stuffs a backpack full of Hotaru's newest clothes and changes into Sailor Pluto before swinging the Garnet Rod in the air. This is a clear abuse of the laws of Time. She doesn't care.

"You're here!" Her baby launches at her as she steps through the portal. Her uniform fades and the garnet rod clatters to the floor as she gathers Hotaru in her arms – this girl who shouldn't feel so much like her child. She cries into Hotaru's hair. It still smells like the berry blast shampoo with the cartoon fish on the bottle. Setsuna buys it to remind Hotaru that she can still be a child if she wants.

"Little One," she chokes on her words. "We're all right." She feels Hotaru tighten her arms around Setsuna's back.

"It's okay, Mama." Hotaru whispers.

As the sun prepares to rise, Setsuna pushes back the duties entrusted to her as the Guardian of Time. Right now she is a mother. She'll hold onto that identity until the Universe pries it from her hands.


	3. Jupiter

I don't own Sailor Moon, as y'all can probably tell, or we'd have a season 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and 10...

AN: here's Jupiter's chapter - shortest chapter for the tallest scout. To make up for how short it is, i'll post chapter 4 later today when I get out of work

Jupiter

Makoto Kino wakes with a start. It's pitch black? Did something go wrong in the Cauldron? Is she lost in space? No, no that's not right. She's lying in bed – a familiar bed. The electricity is off. She stumbles upright and paws at the wall until she reaches the light switch. Nothing happens. "Ah, Crap!" She breathes in slow, calming breaths as her vision adjusts to nighttime. She's back in her flat in Tokyo. The electricity's been turned off…not the heat. Thank the universe for old heating systems. If one's on, all of them are.

Once she can see, Makoto walks out into the hall. The shadows of her plants hanging from the ceiling and lining the side tables and floor are all withered and black. She feels her throat close up and moves on. They shouldn't really be anything to cry about considering... well everything else that's happened.

She walks though her dark apartment noting that everything is still there. The stove, she notes, is dusty but still working, and no one has bothered to shut her water off. So she can have hot water at least. She grabs a school uniform from the drying rack in the corner and pulls it on, then grabs a kerchief from where it hangs next to the dishtowels and ties up her hair. The broom, duster, and cleaning solution are all in the bucket in the pantry where she keeps them with a sponge and her gloves. She grabs them and a trash bag for the food she's sure is rotting in the fridge… and for the dead plants. She sighs. The light in the window suggests it might be close to 06:00.

Maybe when this was done she'd find whatever was still good in the pantry and go over Usagi's to bake. Her mother never minds Makoto using the kitchen and she'll buy her own ingredients. Besides, Usagi loves her cookies.

"Humming in place of a radio, Makoto goes to work.


	4. Mercury

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon otherwise Ami Mizuno would have her own show just for herself, because she was the nerd I aspired to be and still do. Now - Onwards!

Mercury

Ami Mizuno wakes to a scream that, despite months lazing incorporeal in a galactic cauldron, sends her shooting out of bed and fumbling for her Sailor pen. Halfway through the transformation though she sees her mother staring at her, hand over her heart and face as pale as chalk. Ami discards her transformation pen and reaches for a blanket instead, pulling it around her naked shoulders.

It was then that she sees her mother blink. Hard.

"You're not _dead_!" Her mother, she realizes, is wearing Ami's robe and slippers, and Ami's journal is sitting open on the desk chair.

"What time is it?" Ami asks, for lack of anything else to say. Her eyes watch her mother step closer, holding her hands out as though to touch her. Saeko Mizuno's wrinkling hands shake as she steps forwards.

"It's Midnight…December 23. I just...How are you here. I just left your room. The tea –" she steps right up to Ami and her eyes drink in her daughter's features as her hands hesitantly come up to touch her cheeks, her eyelids her lips. Ami waits when she pauses there, fingers pressed over Ami's mouth. She realizes what her mother, the doctor, is doing and takes her wrist, guiding her hand away from Ami's lips to her neck and pressing two of her mother's fingers to her pulse. She feels the artery throb under the slight pressure. Not dead, it reminds them both. Not dead.

"I'm sorry mom." Ami gasps when her mother collapses, sobbing as they both cling to each other. "I can explain."

"You're one of the scouts," Saeko sobs. "I figured it out in your journals…Oh! I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry," she says again. There's not much else she knows how to explain.

"Don't you dare run off like that again, Ami Mizuno."

Over her mother's shoulder, Ami sees the broken teacup that's fallen in the doorway, the wastebasket full of tissues and the box of them on the desk. "I'll try not to."

It's the closest Ami's been to her mother in…ever. Since her father left anyway. She feels, for a moment, confused, then leans into the hug, and lets herself hope.


	5. Tuxedo Kamen

Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon. But I really like vacationing in their universe for a while.

AN: A little bit more on the light hearted side. I always wanted the Shittenou to get another chance to live normal lives. So enjoy this bit of humor and get ready for everyone's favorite pink rabbit tomorrow!

Tuxedo Kamen

Mamoru Chiba is quite dazed when he wakes up in a bed that was his and sheets that aren't. It's his old apartment, he realizes as he swings out of bed. Of course he doesn't wake up anywhere else. He never made it to America and he doesn't have any other home. He thanks all the good fortune in the universe that he'd subleted the place to Motoki when he finds the boxes of his clothes still neatly stored in the closet. He's equally glad that Motoki has a girlfriend with a nicer place as he realizes it could have been quite awkward to wake up naked in your friend's bed. He wipes a hand over his face. Just the thought makes him long for coffee.

Hopefully Motoki won't mind if he helps himself, he thinks as he shuffles out into the kitchen and flicks on the light.

"Gah!" He jumps. He was not expecting bare-naked ass to greet him in the middle of the hallway. Bare-naked…male ass…this is a weird nightmare even by his life's standards. Then he notices the long chestnut brown hair. "Nephrite." His eyes widen as he takes in the living room.

All of them are there. Jadeite is sprawled out across the armchair and Kunzite and Zoisite lie curled together on the sofa…and all of them are naked. He sighs as he shuffles back towards the bedroom for blankets and clothes. "Just once could clothes come along with rebirth?" he grumbles though there's a huge smile on his face. Hopefully Nephrite's huge shoulders will fit into his shirts.


	6. Chibi Moon

Don't own Sailor Moon otherwise we'd get more flashbacks (flash forwards?) from Chibiusa of the 30th Century.

AN: Yeah, yeah, Chibiusa was meant to have been returned to her time at the end of Sailor Stars. But say that didn't happen. It just never seemed fair that Usagi's family just forget about Chibiusa, or remember her and never see her again. Enjoy, and check back tomorrow for Moon's chapter.

Chibi Moon

Usagi "Chibiusa" Tsukino awakens to a hand combing softly through her hair and the feeling of being wrapped up in sheets that feel like the 21stcentury. It even smells like 21st century Tokyo... and that's the sound of the bus outside. Hadn't she requested to be returned to the future? "Mama?" she wonders aloud.

The hand in her hair freezes for just a moment before it continues working tangles out of her locks. "You know, I thought that for a while," a warm voice speaks. "And two years ago I even thought you were my niece," Chibiusa jerks her head up hearing things her grandmother shouldn't remember. "But we both know neither is true."

Fully awake, Chibiusa rolls over, blanket held close, only to see her grandmother holding out a nightgown. She takes it and pulls it over her head. "What?"

"No wait – my question first." Grandma Tsukino points a finger at her nose. "Are you a Sailor Scout?"

"Yes," Chibiusa says before she thinks to deny it.

"Well…that explains more than it doesn't actually." Ikuko sighs and gazes out the window. "Usagi said goodbye four months ago…hugged me…and two days later my memories started coming back."

The day Sailor Moon sacrificed herself to the Cauldron, Chibiusa realizes. Both of their silver crystals had been destroyed. And her memory charm on the Tsukinos must have been destroyed with them.

"You pretended to belong here… showing up one day and still you feel so familiar." Ikuko shakes her head, thoughts drifting. "All Usagi's friends missing too…and the scouts gone. Dr. Mizuno put it together before I did." Ikuko frowns at Chibiusa. "I've waited four months for Usagi to come home. And now she's sprawled out in her bed like she was never gone and you're back and Chibi Chibi is not here." Chibiusa waits as Ikuko stares at her, thinking. "Are you Chibi Chibi?"

"No."

"I thought not…she feels less familiar than you. Is she related to you?"

"Um…" a reincarnation of her mother from eons in the future, "it's complicated."  
"Fair enough." Ikuko takes Chibiusa's hand. "Who are you to my family?"

"It's" complicated, she starts to say. But Chibiusa bites her tongue. She thinks, really thinks, about what they've put Ikuko Tsukino through and how determined she still is to love them. "I-I'm from the future."

That catches Ikuko. She reels back and assesses Chibiusa, squinting closely at her. "And…we are related."

"Yes." Of course Ikuko clearly doesn't need the confirmation from the way she studies Chibiusa's ears, jawline, and cheekbones with a thoughtful frown. "And…I really am called Chibi Usagi."

Ikuko's brow furrows as she mouths back the words to herself. Then her eyes pop wide open and she looks at Chibiusa with a new perspective. She giggles. "Oh goodness, poor Kenji. Don't tell him. Please don't tell him. Some things my husband would prefer not to think about." She hugs Chibiusa and kisses her hair. "Well this is a surprise." And before Chibiusa can speak, Ikuko is back to studying her. She taps Chibiusa's nose. "And that…Mamoru. Are you related to him as well?"

Her grin answers for her and Ikuko screeches excitedly. Then she's being hugged again. "Oh, and he's so handsome. I hoped. Oh goodness no, this isn't what I came up here to talk about." She pulls away from Chibiusa and smiles at her with a caring smile and very determined stare. "My daughter and you are Sailor Scouts. Tell me about that and what happened when you left."

Chibiusa is still a little dazed. She shouldn't be in the past. Cosmos agreed to return her to her time. And now her Grandmother remembers how Chibiusa is not actually her daughter and knows about the Scouts and somehow the world is not ending. She studies her hands and notes that they are not disappearing so clearly the future isn't changing. She sits up in bed. "I can tell you and Kenji-Papa and Shingo together…if you like."

"Of course," Ikuko stands and straightens out her skirt. "And I still have your mug in the cupboard, your favourite one. How does cocoa sound?"

"With peppermint?" she asks.  
"Well of course," Ikuko laughs as they walk down from the attic room. "Tsukinos don't make it any other way."


	7. Moon

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. It is a sad but true reality.

AN: Enjoy this bit of Tsukino family awesomeness, and check back for for Minako and the Ainos tomorrow where things are not all sunshine and roses...

Moon

Usagi Tsukino blinks her eyes open to find her room, her sun kissed navy blanket around her shoulders, and her cat curled up alive and well on the pillow, smiling at her.

"Luna!" She screeches and grabs Luna, hugging her tight. "You're alive!"

"Yes well…I won't be much longer if you keep this up."

"Sorry!" Usagi relaxes her grip and settles Luna on her shoulder. "Sorry, sorry, I just…" Suddenly she remembers her dream and her hand flies to her stomach, flat. "Oh, boo."

"What is it?" Luna asks.

"Nothing, I just…dreamed it was my wedding… Mamo-chan was so handsome and Chibiusa was…well." She taps her stomach. "I felt so happy."

"Yes well, Chibiusa is downstairs. I heard her wake up a few hours ago…and someday, Usagi. Someday."

"I know," she grins. Everyone is alive, she can feel it - all alive and well after everything. "She was so brave."

"As were you," Luna nuzzles against her cheek. "You defeated Galaxia and Chaos. I'm so proud."

Usagi shakes her head. "They won't be the last." These past few years have taught her that much. "But maybe we get a break for now." The word tastes strange on her tongue. "The universe and the cauldron…I felt like they'd be at peace…for a little while."

"Then let's enjoy it now and prepare to maintain it at a later date," Luna suggests. She hops off Usagi's shoulder and onto the floor. "Come on downstairs."

Usagi grabs a bathrobe from the floor and follows her, coming down the stairs to a kitchen that smells like eggs and bacon and "Pancakes!"

"Good morning, Usagi," her mother laughs like Usagi hadn't hugged her goodbye and left on a suicide mission what must be months ago (if the winter coats by the door are anything to go by). "Finally awake."

"Finally," she agrees, dazed at the normal day happening around hr. Shingo walks in from the living room.

"You slept until noon," Shingo pipes up as he goes to the fridge and pours himself some orange juice. "Mom let us all have a late start though…so thanks." Then he hugs her hard around the waist. "I'm glad you're not dead."

"Huh?" she's stunned. How are they all so…not freaking out at her sudden appearance?

"Chibiusa told us everything," her father says as he follows Shingo into the kitchen with said pink haired child.

"Well," her daughter meets her eyes, "not everything." They share a mischievous grin. "Just the parts about the 'sailor scout' thing…and the 'saving the galaxy from an evil witch' thing."

"That evil witch led a really awful life, Chibiusa," she glares. From her daughter's startled face she wonders if this is an expression she lectures Chibiusa with in the future. "She wanted the power to make the universe better on her terms, and she got corrupted by that power and by Chaos."

"Sit down and eat," Ikuko sets a plate down in her normal seat and they all – her family – tuck in to breakfast like any other day. "We want to know everything," her mother smiles. "You don't have to hide from us Usagi."  
She feels like crying and laughing and like Mamo-chan should finally meet her father. "Well…where to start?"

"Chaos," Shingo jumps in. "What is it?"

"Uh…it's an evil…spirit…thing." She stuffs some bacon in Luna's face to keep the cat from laughing at her. Shingo smirks at her. "I mean it, well, it took over the Galaxy Cauldron – that's the source of all life in the Universe, and I had to either destroy them both or I had to sacrifice myself and ensure that life could continue even if it meant Chaos was reborn as well."

"So you died?" Shingo asks.

"Uhh," She glances nervously at her parents. "Yes."

"That is _so_ cool."

"Shingo!" Ikuko shouts.

"What!" He waves a forkful of bacon. "That's like…unreal."

"Actually this is the third time." She adds, stuffing an egg into her mouth.

"It's what?" Her father looks like he might faint. And she can't speak around the whole egg she's attempting to eat. All she can do is shrug. Shingo and Chibiusa snicker.

"Don't worry, Kenji Papa, that's actually not a lot," sometimes Chibiusa is an excellent child, Usagi thinks as she eats. Always saving her neck. "See the first time was a thousand years ago when she was a princess and there was this really huge battle. But her mom saved the Sailors and sent their souls to the future to finish the battle here."

"My sister is a Princess," Shingo mutters. "Now I've heard everything."

"She's gonna become Queen of the Earth," Chibiusa chimes in.

"Holy shit! They let her do that with her grades?"

"Hey!"

"Shingo!" both of her parents glare at him.

As her brother makes a face at her, Usagi tries to wrap her head around this reality. It's a fantasy she's dreamed over and over: after the D-point battle, Diamond, Pharaoh 90, and Nehelenia…and Usagi feels her heart swell in her chest. Finally, everything feels just right.


	8. Venus

Disclaimer: I don't own it cause if I did we'd get SMC every week, not just every other week.

AN: A look at a not so happy family reunion and a different spin on Minako and her ambitions to be a star.

And I got a guest review today who asked about the pairings I'll be writing for the scouts: specifically whether they'd be paired with the Shittenou in future works. If you're reading this, guest reviewer, then take note: I'm a hardcore Nephrite/Makoto shipper. But the only pairings I love more are Michiru/Haruka and Rei/Minako. So you will see _a_ Shittenou/Senshi pairing in future work maybe one more if anyone would like to see Jadeite and Ami together. And yes, Kunzite and Zoisite are supposed to be a couple in Mamoru's chapter. I love the Manga, but I started out on the Anime so I've never paired them any other way.

Now on with the thing...

Venus

Minako Aino sleeps through the night. She awakes in her childhood bed with the sun hitting a Three Lights poster on the opposite wall. She is not dead. She swallows. Not anymore. What is this, round number three? She looks out the window and frowns at the snow on the ground. _It's the Solstice_, a voice – Rei's – says in her head._ Spiritual Energy is strongest then._

So if the Cauldron has just returned her to Earth, she's been dead for four months. She still shivers at the feeling of her body disintegrating, watching Rei turn to ash in front of her. She relishes the feeling of clothes against her skin as she dresses – pulling folded clothes out of a box – and the feeling of a brush in her hair once she's dumped three more boxes out onto the floor to find it.

She stares at her reflection in the mirror once she's dressed and found mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss in one of the smaller boxes. A pity they aren't labelled, she thinks bitterly.

She doesn't hear anyone else awake as she creeps to the bathroom. It still won't do for her sister Kara to wake up and find her sneaking around the house after 4 months gone…or her parents. She isn't exactly surprised to find her toothbrush has been thrown away. She just sifts through the drawer under the sink until she finds a spare. Once that's done she puts it right back in the empty spot in the toothbrush holder. A bit of paper catches her eye taped onto the mirror. It looks like acting lessons. But they're made up in cartoons like they're supposed to be for little kids.

The last time Minako saw her sister Kara the 10 year old had wanted to be a teacher. She'd just won second in a science fair. The kid had no interest in the star life. Minako scowled and ripped the cartoon off the mirror, tearing it once, twice, then crumpling up the pieces and dumping them down the toilet.

She didn't think her third life was supposed to start so angry. Minako sighs as the last of the pieces flushes down the toilet bowl. It'll be hard, she realizes. This third go at it…is going to be hard. It's not thinking about how she keeps dying and coming back, she reasons. It's more like… death was supposed to be peaceful. She doesn't remember her first incarnation but she knows she died in battle just like the second time, just like four months ago. Hasn't she earned peace?

She walks back into life like it's not bothering her. She squares her shoulders and gathers her thoughts as she strides confidently into the kitchen. Her mother is up and at the table, empty mug off to the side as she circles what look like audition notices. Minako heads straight for the coffee machine and pours out a cup from the fresh pot. She holds the cup close and stands across the table from her mother, waiting.

"Kara, come look at this audition I found for you…oh could you refill my coffee dear."

"I'm not Kara," Minako says as she takes a chair.

"Jesus!" Her mother screams. Her pen clatters to the table. "M-M…M?"

"I'm not dead." Mina says calmly, sipping her coffee. "I know I was gone…I can explain. I promise." The hot liquid is so calming as it fills her mouth. She wonders if being dead and aware of it makes everything feel twice as intense when you're…well…not dead. She jumps into the explanation, feeling not nervous, but determined that she's done pretending. "I'm Sailor Venus, Mom."

"W-what." Her mother has stood up from the table. Her head is shaking.

"I'm not lying." Not that she supposes her mother's thinking this, but she's always felt more comfortable with words than silence.

"Mina." Her mother scrambles around the table suddenly and flounders to hug her. Her nails dig into Mina's shoulders and she drags Mina impossibly close. It's startling and full of an emotion Mina's not used to from her parents…a kind of unreserved affection. She hasn't had hugs like this much. She got one when she won her first pageant, then again when she scored her first audition, and the day she left to tour Europe with a pop group.

"My baby," her mother actually cries. For just a moment, Mina is nothing except her daughter and it is wonderful.

But it never lasts. She pulls away first.

"Why's Kara in acting lessons?" She dives right in.

"Huh?" Her mother leans back against the table, still taking in Mina alive and well in front of her.

"She's never wanted to act." Mina frowns at her.

"She…well she just wanted to be like you."

"Bullshit." Mina snorts. She can't help herself.

"Well, Mina…we thought you were dead."

"So you made my sister replace me as your little star."

"No!" Her mother looks aghast but her eyes look away from Mina.

Minako sighs. "Well get her out of them, Get her back into math club…or debate team." Debate team, now that Mina thought of it, might be fun for her too. Third life was the charm and all. She might as well mix things up.

"How…I'm so confused, Mina."

"I can explain tonight. I promise. I'll explain to you and Dad and Kara. But I'm back, and whatever you thought, I'm not dead." She shivers whenever she says it. It sounds more and more like a promise. She's determined the fourth time won't be for a damn long while.

"Still…give me a summary, Sweetie." Her mother has sunk into another chair and has a hand pressed against her forehead.

Mina sipped the last of her coffee. "Well, I'm Sailor Venus," she repeats while she thinks up what else to say.

"O-kay," her mother squints at her like she will suddenly see a superhero in her daughter's school clothes.

"I went on a mission…I did die. But a teammate was able to save all of us. And now…I'm back." It sounds lame. She thinks. She'll have to make it all sound more important by tonight.

"Right…Oh goodness." Her mother pinches the bridge of her nose. "This is going to cause such a stir."

Ah, there's the mother she knows: housewife turned agent and press manager.

"And right now, I'm going to school to sort out my absences." Mina stands and brings her mug to the sink. "I'll be back by dinner."

She leaves after hugging her mother again. She squeezes just as hard as her mother had before, but somehow it already feels different, like the love is tempered by the thoughts of her acting career creeping in.

Minako shivers, regretting leaving without a coat, as she walks towards Juban High. A block from home she hears a soft "meow" on the wall behind her. It's a ridiculous sound. It's nothing like a real cat and everything like someone sounding out each letter of the word. She whirls around.

"Artemis!" She cries and catches the white cat as he leaps at her. He purrs as she holds him close, hiding tears in his fur. "We're back."

"We are."

"I don't know how I feel about it, Artemis." She holds him so that she can meet his eyes. "I thought we were all finally done fighting."

He smiles sympathetically and paws at her arm. "We're going to make this one count. We'll all get to Crystal Tokyo one day at a time."

"My parents already got rid of my toothbrush." It was such a small detail, and maybe even logical after four months of her being gone. But it hurt. "They packed up my room they…they put Kara in acting class. They want her to replace me."

"No." Artemis scoffs and squirms out of her grip to coil around her neck. "They do love you Mina. They just need to learn better ways to show it."

"They only love their star."

"Not true," Artemis hisses. She smiles as his tail hits her face. "And I'm so proud of you, by the way Minako. And I'll be with you what ever comes next for every step of the way."

"Even Non-scout stuff?"

"Especially that." His weight on her shoulders centres her, reminding her of her strength, of people that believed in her and not her talent.

"So where did you end up this morning?" She asks as she continues down the street towards Juban High. The wind still whips cold around her but somehow she feels warmer.

It is the first day of her third life. This one, she's determined, will be her last, her longest, and her brightest.  
Her star seed feels hot in her chest. _Big things_, it seems to say, _are coming to you._


	9. Uranus and Neptune

Disclaimer: Oh are those copyrights! No, no they're not...guess this isn't mine XD

AN: Still a rated T. but they're well on their way to M. I blushed the entire way through writing this but really I can't see these particular two doing anything else the day after such a huge battle. 

Last Chapter tomorrow and you guys get Mars. 3 And stay tuned for more Pax Lunae at the end of the week. I finished the first draft of chapter three today. Also let me know if you like this Uranus and Neptune stuff cause there might be something else I wrote today that I could be convinced to post...something that is decidedly not Rated T ;)

Uranus and Neptune

Haruka Tenoh wakes up breathing in air that tastes like the sea. She savours each breath as her senses sharpen until she's fully awake. The air tastes like home, like Japan, like Michiru.

Michiru Kaiou is curled around a pillow right beside her. Her brow is relaxed. Her body is unwounded and calm. And Haruka spends her first few minutes awake watching the rise and fall of Michiru's chest. Somehow this feels different than the mornings after other battles. They were dead, she recalls. Not anymore, but they had been. She almost wishes this death was as vague as her first, or as painless as her second in the fight with Kaori. No, regretfully sitting in limbo in a cauldron for months after having your body shredded for your star seed hurts a whole fucking lot. She pushes away the thoughts by drinking in the sight of Michiru, counting the faint outline of each rib, looking at each strand of hair as it falls like a waterfall on her love's face and over her pillow. She ends her exploration on Michiru's lips, smiling as she rarely has in the months leading up to their battle with Galaxia. She appears so content, so blissful. Looking suddenly isn't enough anymore. She aches to feel Michiru in her arms.

Haruka rolls closer, sliding one hand around Michiru's waist and using the other to tuck Michiru's head under her chin. She swings her leg over both of Michiru's knowing it isn't truly possible to melt into her, but needing to get as close as possible all the same. She closes her eyes as Michiru breathes against her chest; she never wants to move. Michiru is so warm, soft, and alive.

"Ruka?" The soft whisper sounds like waves breaking against a beach. She feels familiar hands wrap around her back and lips smile against her shoulder.

She pulls away just enough to dive in and kiss Michiru soundly, feeling the excitement coiling in both of them.

Regretfully she breaks away to breathe, gazing into Michiru's deep blue eyes as they press their foreheads together.

"We're alive." Michiru gasps.

"We are. I don't know how Sailor Moon –"

But Michiru's kissing her again, rolling them over so that every one of her curves is pressed into every one of Haruka's. Fingers, strong and nimble from years of playing the violin, twine into her hair, and a hand traces meandering paths along her torso. Fuck, who cares how Sailor Moon pulled this off?

"I just…need to feel you." Michiru says between kisses. Haruka gasps as her lover bends down to kiss her neck, tongue tracing her hammering pulse.

"Oh gods, I love you."

"I love you too," Michiru whispers, gasping quietly when Haruka shifts one of her thighs to press between Michiru's legs. "I do, I do."

She flips them again, hands caressing every bit of Michiru she can reach – nothing calculated about it – she just needs to recommit every inch of her to memory. The fire of Michiru's calloused hands on her skin expresses the same need.

"Marry me?"

"Yes." No hesitation. Michiru kisses her until they're both breathless. "But, you'd better propose properly later."

"When we're done,"

"Feeling like this is real." Michiru finishes her thought. Haruka moans as Michiru's hands reach a particularly sensitive spot.

"God!" she cries.

"That's Goddess, dear." Michiru is smirking at her. She brings her close to kiss the smirk off her lips. She shares in her joy, her lust, and her disbelief. And lets the feelings, intense and physical, crash through her body.


	10. Mars

Disclaimer: dont own it and wont own the companion fics coming after this.

AN: Alright so if you've been wondering whom I ship with whom this will be a dead give away. Also a warning on some blood and gore - battle wounds etc. Mars never did have the nicest dreams...

Silver Millenium selves get mentioned in this chapter. That means silver millenium names. anyone who can guess the full name of the person Mars talks to gets to suggest one-shot prompts for the next series like this one.

And I have an offer on the table: I need to decide whether I want to pair Mercury with anyone in an upcoming fic. Suggestions open for any love interest not among the scouts. Send me a PM or mention in a review.

And hop over my tumblr:quidblr-dot-tumblr-dot-com for your general tumblr randomness and updates on the Sailorverse stories I'm writing.

Mars

The first time Rei Hino dies, it is with a poisoned arrow draining air from her lungs faster than she can breathe it in. She cries out for her lover – felled on Kunzite's sword and slowly fading beside her. Something explodes in the distance. Then a blast hits much closed, spraying her with debris. She clenches her fist and cries as she feels the crush of her lung collapsing in her chest. Breath comes to her too shallowly and is not nearly rich enough – full as it is of smoke and the copper of death. In comparison, the poison on the arrow tip is barely enough to blur her vision. Regretfully, she realizes, it will be the slow burn of suffocation that will kill her.

At least, she thinks bitterly, her people consider this a honourable way to die.

"Dite," she wheezes. Miraculously a hand fumbles to clasp hers. It feels clammy and weak.

"I've got you," the guardian of Venus groans and crawls closer. Rei can hear her open gut wound squelch as she moves.

"We failed." She stares blankly towards the burning sky.

"Don't you fucking – hungh!" she hears Dite heave. She smells copper mixed in with bile. Her good lung scrambles for air against her will. At this rate she may not die for hours – trapped in the limbo of the battlefield with Dite's rotting body holding her hand.

"Serenity!" Dite mewls.

And Rei is strong enough to turn her head in time to see the sword glint in the light of raging fires and the hunched silhouette of their princess. She turns back to Dite. "Don't look." Bright brown eyes meet hers, mirroring her pain and fear.

She feels a sudden stillness surround them, like all sound has been sucked from the battlefield. "The guardian of Saturn." She gasps.

"Not a myth," Dite groans. "Oh thank the gods."

"Shhhh…rest." She closes her eyes as a feeling like stillness washes over her.

"Ariesa," She hears Dite whisper as the Silence Glaive spares them both their pain. She squeezes Dite's hand…

~_thirdfirstbreaths~_

The second time Rei Hino dies it is with a new name, a new planet, an old enemy, and a stab wound through the same fucking lung.

You don't feel your lung collapse and not remember feeling it before, after all. Skewered on large icicles is an odd time have de ja vu, she muses. At least exposure is a kinder death than suffocation. The cold numbs her instinct to breath. Heat leeches out of her body as her blood freezes on snow and ice.

She is 14 now. She thinks she was 16 the last time she felt a lung crush itself flat in her chest. Minako Aino is already dead, and Rei does not remember why that death stings more than the two other tombs stretched out between them on this ice sheet. She closes her eyes as a warm pink light envelopes her, calling her towards it. She'll support Sailor Moon to finally vanquish this evil and then, then, she can rest...

~_thirdfirstbreaths_~

The third time Rei Hino dies she remembers all of her deaths in all the raw, painful clarity with which she initially felt them. Four months as energy in the Galaxy Cauldron feels like mere moments away from the times her body was poisoned, stabbed, frozen, and this time disintegrated. She lurches awake covered in sweat and throws up over the side of her bed. She cries and cries and clutches at her body against the phantom pain.

Suddenly she remembers Minako, her not quite lover if that was accurate. (What did you call it when, on the cusp of admitting your feelings, you both get murdered by an evil Sailor Soldier?) She thinks of that first death where Minako was "Dite" and wonders what that was a nickname for.

And why is she remembering? She feels strongly that the others won't. She needs to meditate.

It takes mere minutes to throw on a temple robe and make her way to the Sacred Fire. She freezes when she slides open the door to find her Grandfather already there, nursing an unusually small flame.

"It came back on this morning," he says as she shuts the door. "The day you disappeared, it went out, so as soon as I saw it, I knew you'd come home."

"Grandpa," she whispers. Unsure what she wants to say.

"I won't disturb you," he says with his back to her. He pats the mat beside him. "Just come sit with me."

She does. The fire grows as she nears and her grandfather feeds it a few more fresh logs.

She falls into a comfortable meditation, matching her grandfather's breathing. While it was answers she sought coming here, she feels calm instead. It's maybe better than answers right now.

"I knew you would come back." Her grandfather says after a long while. She feels his eyes studying her in the firelight. "The lovely Ikuko Tsukino and Saeko Mizuno were unsure…but I had dreams you see, that you would be alright."

She wants to reprimand him for flirting with her friends' parents, but finds her throat strangely closed.

"You don't have to explain," he continues. "I know."

"You do?"

"I told you, I had dreams, you're not the only one they come to, you know. It's a family thing, not your scout magic."

She feels the weight of telling lifted from her shoulders and she leans in to place a hand on her grandfather's arm. "I'm sorry that I was gone."

"We can't apologize for our fate," he says as his hand moves to cover hers. "But I hope you know I support you, and whatever you've been through, whatever's troubling you, I am very good at listening and giving good advice."

"I don't know if you'll understand." She says and jumps as he laughs.

"Understand? Ha! I have decades on you. And they are decades of wisdom. That still beats superhero any day, Missy."

She laughs until tears prick the corners of her eyes. For the first time since she woke up, it feels like everything will be all right.

_~Fin~_


End file.
